The Other Side

When I was young, one of the 'moral giving childhood stories' included a very simple story. You have got a white cloth. Make a noticeable black dot at the center of it and show it to people. Most of them will notice the black dot and ask questions about it. Not many will care about the white portion. All that matters is that small black dot which grabs the attention. It has been a long time since I posted last and there have been many events which tempted me to write about them, most of them bad / negative. The FB Comment Arrest, The Delhi Rape Case, subsequent mindless statements by Indian politicians and religious leaders, etc (a lot of black dots, though :-/). There were numerous protests, media panel discussions on such topics. But today I am not gonna write about them. Today its about those stories which are missed by a large chunk of people. The positive ones. I am, by no means, saying that people are wrong in thinking about negative aspects of our society / country and protesting / trying to bring a change in it. This is not even a post to infuse some enthusiasm or positiveness amidst these times. This post is just an attempt to congratulate or thank those unsung heroes, those unnamed people who made these things possible.Protecting usWe take some things for granted. Ever imagined how is it like to live in the snow clad terrain of the North, along the Line of Control, for an official on duty, keeping a constant vigil? Or tried to empathize the void created in hearts of those whose son or husband or more importantly father died in a combat saving us? Those are not even high paying jobs. The ratio of standards required to the pay they get is very high. I respect their bravery and chivalry. More importantly, I respect their dedication towards the nation while many citizens are ashamed of its law and order, politics, and the system as a whole.दो बूंद जिंदगी कीEveryone thought that India would be the last country to be completely polio free when ~50% of new polio cases in the world were reported in India in 2009. Yet in 2012, India achieved a major milestone by passing a full year without recording any new cases. From the official booklet of Global Polio Eradication Initiative, "The journey from 200,000 to zero has been long, hard and arduous. The progress is a credit to the tireless work of millions of frontline workers - vaccinators, social mobilizers, community workers, health workers, religious leaders, influencers and parents - in often difficult circumstances and environments"

One theory to explain them allWe have all heard the name of Sunita Williams. Not because she has some space walk record associated with her. Because she is an Indian-American. She wasn't even born and brought up here. This is not a dig against her, its against the general media or mass which makes people like her so famous that we tend to ignore the successes of the people working right here. Not many including myself, (before reading about him couple of days back ;) ) except a few in the physics world of India know about Ashoke Sen. Sen is considered one of the original contributors to string theory, a complex mathematical construct which is meant to resolve one of the science's biggest mysteries. He won the Fundamental Physics Prize in 2012. He is just an example. There are many more whose work goes unnoticed because of media's under attention to them.ताला लगा दिया जाये ?
Kaun Banega Crorepati! The Indian version of 'Who wantes to be a millionaire?'. Over the various seasons, it has become much more than just a lottery reality show. It has become a wonderful platform for people to realize their aspirations and dreams. The most commendable thing about this show is that most of the contestants come from lower middle class categories, most of them with big dreams and those who want to solve their financial problems. This past few seasons started airing short documentaries about the lives of various contestants. Its a great way of understanding and connecting to their problems, their hopes and their lives. Yesterday only they aired a special episode on a very backward community called Musahar based in Bihar. This community has been wronged for ages, exploited to such an extent that they are in the lowest rank of Dalits and are forced to eat mice out of hunger (yes mice, and hence the name Musahar. Mus = Mouse, Ahar = Food). Yes, in one way, its all for gaining TRPs. But, calling a guy from such a community and making us aware that in some part of the country, people are living in the worst possible conditions, and thus giving them a ray of hope, is much better than watching dozen people fight with each other in a stupid secluded house for over a month on national television. And of course, the host, a great communicator and a person revered by the masses, Amitabh Bachhan has been instrumental in the success of the only sensible show on TV.

It's not all dirty
This was really a bad year for Indian Politics. String of corruption scandals, mindless politics by regional parties, idiotic statements after Delhi rape case, etc. On the other side, some good things (perceived good, atleast) also happened, like the rise of Arvind Kejrival, or reelection of Modi third time, and so on. But this all caught public's attention. But somewhere among all this, contribution of many good faces of Indian politics went unnoticed. Manohar Parikar. The only IITian to hold a Chief Minister's office (Goa). He was awarded the CNN-IBM person of the year in politics category this year. Other chief ministers include Nitish Kumar (Bihar) and Dr. Raman Singh (Chattisgarh) who have done extraordinary work in their respective states. Both of the states have double digit GDP growth rate and did fairly well in HDI. They are famous at their state level, but no one has a national recognition like Modi. But they do deserve it.Obviously there are many more stories, like reduction of fresh HIV cases in India by 57%, or P&G's support for educating rural children, etc.. These were just my top five choices for today. You can follow them more here on I See India.Credits : Quora. From inspiration to content.

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I've been cooking food since a couple of years now, ranging from a full Indian menu to a simple one-off filling dish. This is my first attempt at noting down a recipe on a blog!
This is a 20 min simple recipe, for spicy curd rice, or Vagherela bhaat as we call it in Gujarati.

I have written this post from a general Gujarati household perspective. However, there is a huge bias towards how I was brought up. So, please don't generalize it to all Gujjus.

And comments are welcome! :)

Food

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